Culinary utensil.



R. WASHBURN L A. L. COMTOIS.

CULINARY UTENSHL APPLIOATION FILED 00T. 30,1911.

1,067,290. l Patented Ju1y15, 1913.

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REGINALD WASHBURN AND ALFRED L. COMTOIS, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIG-NORS TO 'WOODS-SHERWOOD COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CULINARY UTENSIL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application lcd October 30, 1911.

Patented July 15, 1913.

Serial No. 657,410.

Y 10 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, REGINALD VVAsir BURN and Amann L. Controls,citizens of the United States, both residing at `Worces ter, in thecounty of Worcester and State of h/lassachusetts, have invented a newand useful Culinary Utensil, of which the following is a specification.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a utensil forwashing berries, salads, cereals, and other similar articles, and forfrying potatoes, vegetables, and the like in hot fat, which will be ofsuch a character that its two component parts constituting the body andthe cover can be separated, and each one of them entirely independent ofthe other can he used as a .bowl or soup strainer and for otheranalogo-us purposes; also to provide a construction for this purposewhich shall vbe of an exceedingly sinipile character so that it can bemade up at very small expense and of such design that each part shall bean absolute duplicate of the other, so that `only one set of dies willhave to be employed in manufacturing them. One of the advantages of thisarrangement is that half of the washer can be sold separately as a bowl.or soup strainer at the price of ordinary articles of this class, sothat it will satisfy the desires of two sets of purchasers.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1is a side View of a washer constructed in accordance with thisinvention; Fig. 2 is a plan thereof; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of oneof the component parts constituting by itself a strainer; Fig. 4 is aplan of a modification; and Fig. 5 is an end view thereof.

In its preferred form as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the inventioncomprises two hemispherical foraminous strainers 10 each having acircular sheet metal rim 11 at the edge and each provided with a wire 12surrounding the rim and held thereo-n in any desired way, for example,in the manner shown in the patent to Humphreys, No. 944,265 granted Dec.28, 1909. This wire terminates in a handle 13 having a triple twistedshank 14 and integral with thel wire of course.

It is to be observed that the twist 14 is formed by having the two ends15 and 1G of the wire twisted into it, that is, the wire extends fromthe Aend 15 around to the right and then passes through the twist toform the handle and back again to the end 16, both of these ends with anintermediate portion being twisted together to form a strong tripletwist. This wire band is provided with two integral loops 17 as shown inthe abo-ve mentioned patent located on opposite sides of the centerwhich, with the handle, form rests for supporting the device on a bowlor the like when it is to be used as a strainer. Opposite the handlealso is an integrally twisted vprojection 1S having a hook 19 offsetslightly. This also forms a rest. The convex portion of this hook ispreferably directly opposite the handle, so that the projection 18itself is slightly oglfset from the center. The object of this hook isthat when the two halves are put together these two hooks come intoContact as shown in the drawings and form a hinge by which the twohalves of the utensil can be swung open or closed. rl`he tivo handlescan then be held together by the hand which operates the device or theycan be secured by a hook 20 as indicated.

By detachabl y hinging the two hemispherical st rainers together at apoint opposite the handle it will be seen that they can be used as awasher in a very convenient manner without any particular danger of theparts becoming separated even while they are being opened or closed, andyet cach part can be separated from the other whenever de sired and usedindependently as a strainer or the like.

In the forni of the invention shown in Fig. 4 the same advantages aresecured, but in this case the necessity of having two loops 17 inaddition to the hook 19 is avoided by modifying these loops and usingthem for hinging purposes. In this case each strainer is provided withone loop 22 similar to the loop 17 and with a hook 23 at the samedistance from the center and occupying the position and serving thefunction of the other loop. In addition to this it has another function.It is of such form that when one of the strainer-s is inverted and pntover t-he other the hooks on the two strainers, being then oppositelylocated by reason of the reversal of their positions, each of themregisters with the loop of the other, to form a hinge oint having thesame function as the hinge joint in the other case. In this case anotheradvantage is secured in that the upper strainer can be swung back andwill be supported by the lower one by reason of the engagement of eachhook with the rim of the other strainer. The two strainers in this caseare not likely to become disconnected except by intention.

Although we have illustrated and described only two preferredembodiments of the invention we are aware that many other modificationscan be made therein by any person skilled in the art without departingfrom the scope of the invention as expressed in the claims. Therefore,we do not wish to be limited to all the details of construction hereinshown and described, but

That we do claim is l. As an article of manufacture, a strainercomprising a foraminous bowl, whereby it is capable of use by itself asa strainer, a handle, rests located on the side of the bowl opposite thehandle, and a projection opposite the handle having an offset hookconstituting means for pivotally connect-ing the bowl at a pointopposite the handle with a similar bowl brought together face to facetherewith'.

2. As an article of manufacture, a culinary utensil comprising twoidentical halves, each consisting of a foraminous bowl having a sheetmetal rim around the edge thereof and a wire surrounding the rim andprojecting at its ends therefrom, said ends forming a handle, each ofsaid wires having at a point nearly opposite the handle but slightly toone side of the opposite point, a projection extending opposite fromthehandle to a distance and then bent inwardly and formed into a hook, saidhooks on the two ,halves being identical, whereby when the two halvesare placed face to face these hooks will engage each other and form adetachable hinge by'which each half can be swung toward and from theother.

3. As an article of manufacture, a culinary utensil comprising twoidentical halves each consisting of a foraininous bowl, a. sheet metalrim around the edge thereof, and a wire surrounding the rim andprojecting at its ends therefrom, said ends being twisted together toform a handle, each of said wires having at a point nearly opposite thehandle but slightly to one side of the opposite point, a twistedintegral projection extending directly opposite from the handle to adistance and then bent inwardly toward said opposite point and formedinto a shallow hook, said hooks on the two halves being identical,whereby when the two halves are placed face to face these hooks willengage each other and form a hinge by which each half can be swungtoward and from the other, and means for holding the two handlestogether.

ln testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands, in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

REGINALD VASHBURN. ALFRED L. COMTOIS. lVitnesses M. lV. DONAHUE, IRVINGA. GREEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

